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Key findings

In the Texas primary and runoff for U.S. Senate, more than a dozen super PACs and other outside spending groups spent $14.5 million on on ads and other independent expenditures, with about 75 percent of them negative.

Super PACs supporting victor Ted Cruz spent nearly as much as his campaign raised. The campaign brought in $10.2 millionas of July 31, while the super PACs supporting him spent about $8 million.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the Texas Senate primary and runoff was far and away the most expensive congressional race so far in this election cycle. The Indiana Senate race, another high-profile election where a tea party candidate overthrew an establishment Republican, is a distant second, with about $5 million in spending by outside groups.